Reo Hatate has opened up on the Celtic tactical tweak that unlocked his top form this season.
The Japanese international has enjoyed an outstanding Scottish Premiership campaign and is already one of the favourites to win the Player of the Year awards at the end of the campaign, netting five goals and assisting in six more in the league so far this term.
Writing in his column in the Japanese media, Hatate admitted he had to think of new innovations to his play this season because his opponents are keeping closer tabs on him after his first six months in Glasgow's east end. He said: "I have been thinking about and devising my own ways to improve the quality of my performance in front of the goal, an issue that Ange Postecoglou told me I needed to develop. I have been playing at the bottom of midfield with captain Callum McGregor this season.
"I felt that the team could perform better without me being more involved in the build-up and I decided to take a higher position and get involved in front of goal more often. In doing so, I also focused on my positioning. In the past, I often received the ball from the centre backs in a straight line toward the opposition goal, but this made it difficult to avoid pressure from the opponents.
"So what I have done is something I would describe as shifting sideways - what I mean is that I now try and receive passes from the central defenders at an angle. For example, if you receive a pass with your back to the opposition goal, you have to turn 180 degrees to face forward. But if you receive a pass sideways to their goal, you can turn only 90 degrees to face forward.
"If you receive the ball in a straight line, I am immediately under a lot of pressure, but if I receive the ball a little to the side, you have more speed and agility and you can strip them for pace in an instant.
"I also realised that at Celtic, the full backs were coming inside instead of going down the line, so if I opened up, there was space for me to receive the pass. Above all, because I am now in my second season at Celtic I was acutely aware that my opponents were marking me harder and harder every game.
"That is why a split-second move is so important. This is why I came up with the idea of receiving the ball from a different angle. I was able to record an assist in the League Cup Final as a result of this. As a result of this change, I have added more assists and goals to my game and the team are playing even better. A little ingenuity will change the scenario on the pitch."
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